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A Trump administration influenced by Elon Musk could lead to a surge in privately funded space missions, the chief executive of a leading space firm has said.
Speaking to The National at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, Max Haot, chief executive of Vast Space, said he was hopeful that Mars could be reached in the coming years by SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
He spoke just hours before Mr Trump was inaugurated to begin his second four-year term as US president. Mr Haot also praised the UAE and Saudi Arabia for having two of the most advanced emerging space programmes in the world.
We would be honoured to have either the Kingdom or the Emirates as customers of ours. They would be perfect to potentially lead a mission
Max Haot,
Vast Space
“Trump specifically is really committed, with his relationship with Elon Musk, in getting the US obviously to the Moon for sure, to be the first, and to win in space,” Mr Haot said. “But we also expect that there might be an even greater focus on Mars, a major push on Mars.
"We’ll see what happens in the next few hours, days, weeks. From our point of view [there is] a lot of excitement on what’s to come. We definitely see there’s a chance, a step function in America’s leadership in space exploration that will come in the next four years."
Anna Hazlett, founder of AzurX, a UAE-based private advisory and investment firm specialising in the space sector, said the industry under a Trump administration would benefit the industry globally, not just in the US.
"The new US administration could really shake things up for the private space sector. We should see a stronger push for innovation, more streamlined regulations and a bigger emphasis on public-private partnerships,” said Ms Hazlett, whose company has worked with clients like Blue Origin, the space company run by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder.
“This is a chance for private companies to step up and play a leading role in shaping the future of the space economy, not just for the US but globally. It’ll be exciting to see how this evolves in the coming months. I know the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are preparing for increased interest from US companies looking to localise and this in turn will support the growth of these emerging space markets.”
Mr Musk, who has been recruited by Mr Trump to spearhead a drive to improve government efficiency, has previously said that an uncrewed mission to Mars using SpaceX’s Starship rocket could take place as early as 2026, with crewed missions potentially following in subsequent years. The technology to achieve missions to Mars “is here”, Mr Haot said, and it was now a question of “focus and execution”.
“I’m expecting it to last hopefully for the benefit of humanity and make us multi-planetary, get us to Mars maybe by the end of the term. It’s a very ambitious goal. It might happen, it might not,” he said.
However, the Starship programme – the rocket is described as the largest and most powerful space rocket ever – suffered a setback when one exploded after taking off on a test flight last Thursday. The programme has been grounded while investigations take place.
Founded in 2021 and based in California, Vast is an important partner of SpaceX and is one of the leading space companies to have emerged as Nasa looks to transfer low-Earth orbit operations to the private sector. In 2023 Vast announced plans for the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1, which is currently under construction and could be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as this year.
The aim is that soon after Haven-1 is launched, the first human spaceflight to it would take place on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Seats on the first crewed flight to the station are to be made available for sale, and Mr Musk’s company will provide training for astronauts selected.
Mr Haot said that the prospect of the transition from existing space stations – the International Space Station (ISS) and China’s Tiangong space station – run by government-allied organisations, to commercial space stations, is what “excites us”.
'Racing to launch'
“We’re developing and launching the world’s first commercial space station and we are racing to launch before the end of the year. We will be the first ever to have a commercial space station,” Mr Haot said. “And we also believe that we can do it a lot faster and a lot cheaper through iterative and vertically integrated engineering.”
In December, Vast announced that if it was selected by Nasa, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket would launch two Dragon spacecraft missions to the ISS, supporting Nasa’s aim for there to be more private astronaut missions (PAMs). Nasa has said PAMs are critical to supporting future low-Earth orbit commercial space stations, and Vast’s missions would be the fifth and sixth PAMs to take place.
Mr Haot said that Vast wanted to work with “sovereign astronauts” who may or may not be allied to nations that until now had been involved with ISS missions. “This is more a commercial approach where these nations can work with us and basically buy a ticket to the station to do important science,” he said. “That’s the number-one priority – enabling nations that want to go more, or that have never gone to the ISS, [to have] that opportunity.”
Self-funded missions, UAE and Saudi Arabia
He said that Vast also wanted to work with private self-funded individuals keen to visit the ISS, although he added that he disliked the term "space tourism". Potentially one astronaut on each upcoming mission could be such a private customer.
“We’re going to the commercialisation of the space station. If you look at the market, who can be our customers and our partners?” he said. “Clearly everyone that’s already involved in the ISS – obviously Nasa and the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe, but the Middle East and … the Emirates and Saudi Arabia I would say are the biggest market outside the traditional ISS players.”
Mr Haot said that the UAE and Saudi Arabia appeared to have “the most advanced” emerging space programmes and he had been impressed by their activities so far and their “amazingly trained astronaut corps”.
“We also see the region as a key market for partnership outside again of the original ISS partners. We’re very invested in building the relationships with the key players in the region,” Mr Haot said. “So we would be honoured to have either the kingdom … or the Emirates as customers of ours.
"They would be perfect to potentially lead a mission to one of the world’s first commercial space stations. More to be seen in the future, but certainly on our side, it’s our goal to be partners within the region.”
Additional reporting by Daniel Bardsley and Sarwat Nasir
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
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Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
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Profile of MoneyFellows
Founder: Ahmed Wadi
Launched: 2016
Employees: 76
Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)
Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund
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The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Intercontinental Cup
Namibia v UAE Saturday Sep 16-Tuesday Sep 19
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UNpaid bills:
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN budget in 2019
USA – $1.055 billion
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Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
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The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
How does ToTok work?
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
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The five pillars of Islam
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
